For Historians: South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center

South Dakota history, from the time of its early Native American cultures up through World War II, comes alive in this splendid underground museum. Among the displays are those of a Sioux in traditional dress, a walk-through tepee, and a magnificent streamlined wooden-stick carving of a galloping horse (circa 1875). The carving was included in a Native American art show sent to England in 1976.

An exhibit of special historic interest is the Verendrye Plate, a lead plate that was placed on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River by a French expedition in 1743, claiming this area for France and found in 1913. Other displays show how the lives of South Dakota’s people have been affected by such change as the fur trade, the gold rush, and the coming of the railroad.